Part VI Some Hospice Care Providers Hasten Death

RFFM.org ^ | August 16, 2008 | Bill Beckman

[Daniel T. Zanoza]

Editor's Note: This is the sixth in a series of columns first posted on the Illinois Right to Life Committee's (IRLC) website [http://www.illinoisrighttolife.org/] written by Bill Beckman, IRLC's executive director. The column discusses hospice care. Beckman relates nightmarish, firsthand recollections regarding patients and their hospice providers. This series warns readers about end of life issues and the need to monitor the care given to loved ones. The IRLC director also describes what readers can do to protect themselves from the looming culture of death which permeates the thinking of many medical facilities in our nation.

Hospice has developed a good reputation for providing compassionate care for dying patients. A key principle of this care is: hospice neither artificially prolongs life nor hastens death.

Unfortunately, this principle is no longer consistently followed in hospice care (as discussed in the previous article in this series). This lack of consistency requires a “buyer beware” attitude when evaluating which hospice might be appropriate to provide truly compassionate end-of-life care.

Now that we have established that at least some hospices deviate from the original mission of hospice, some real life examples will clarify how hospices can act to hasten death, while justifying such actions as compassionate and caring...

[BykrBayb]

And you have first-hand knowledge of what’s that’s like?

[BykrBayb]

And “appropriate pain relief” now means “just kill them all.”

[wagglebee]

Refraining from actively killing someone is now called prolonging life.

Hell, the deathbots consider EATING and DRINKING "prolonging life"!

[pieceofthepuzzle]

Yes. I am a physician and have watched people in the terminal stages of their lives. I also watched a parent die in a hospice. It would be best, if possible, to be able to die at home, with dignity. This is not always possible, and can be hard on the family, but when it is right I think this is better than dying in a place you are unfamiliar with.

[wagglebee]

Giving someone enough morphine to manage pain: Cruel

Giving someone enough morphine to kill them: Compassionate

[Nowhere Man]

Typical un-named source anti-hospice materiel from a group that advocates prolonging life no matter how much pain the terminally ill patient is enduring.

Let them experience the pain for 24, or 2400 hours, then possibly re-evaluate their position.

Well, it is wrong to hasten death, from what I understand when I listen to Art Bell and George Noory when this topic comes up, for some people, this is part of the life experience and even when this is cut short, it can affect the Afterlife. I can't prove it one way or another but I leave these things up to God. If I may borrow from another religion, there is a belief in Buddhism where "all life is suffering until one achieves Nirvana," a state of total bliss and lack of want. Again, perhaps this is part of the process. Coming back to Earth, bringing about death faster is a slipperly slope to promoting it in the future.

[Nowhere Man]

Typical un-named source anti-hospice materiel from a group that advocates prolonging life no matter how much pain the terminally ill patient is enduring.

Let them experience the pain for 24, or 2400 hours, then possibly re-evaluate their position.

Well, it is wrong to hasten death, from what I understand when I listen to Art Bell and George Noory when this topic comes up, for some people, this is part of the life experience and even when this is cut short, it can affect the Afterlife. I can't prove it one way or another but I leave these things up to God. If I may borrow from another religion, there is a belief in Buddhism where "all life is suffering until one achieves Nirvana," a state of total bliss and lack of want. Again, perhaps this is part of the process. Coming back to Earth, bringing about death faster is a slipperly slope to promoting it in the future.

[Nowhere Man]

Reimbursement for services unfortunately can enter the picture. Some insurance payors reimburse hospice on a per case basis, thus pressure to keep costs low on any one patient, thus opening up “temptation” to hasten the process. Just think what temptations migh exist under national healthcare reimbursement ?

I'd stay away from places that are county run, here in the Pittsburgh area, my aunt when there for hospice care and she died a few days later. We can't prove it but my mom and aunt, her sisters, always did believe they hastened her death. At the same place, recently, somebody died when their wheelchair went down the stairs, from family history, same place, my great-grandfather died that way in the same manner.

[kalee]

A hospice refused food and water to my terminally ill stepfather even though my mother was begging for them to give him food and liquids. When the nurse thought my mother was “sneaking” him water she screamed at my mother to stop. They lied to my mother and to my stepfather to get him in there, then everything changed.
Ny mother is ill now and she has made me promise no hospice, because she believes “they killed my husband”.

[Grizzled Bear]

Typical un-named source anti-hospice materiel from a group that advocates prolonging life no matter how much pain the terminally ill patient is enduring.

Let them experience the pain for 24, or 2400 hours, then possibly re-evaluate their position.

If you're talking about starvation/dehydration (as done to Terri Shiavo) I say you need to grow a pair, look the patient in the eyes and drag a blade across their throat.

If you're going to murder someone, then murder them.

[MindBender26]

>>>> I leave these things up to God.

I think a human being in the horrible pain of terminal bone cancer should get to decide.

A few years ago, a brilliant surgeon I knew was diagnosed with such a cancer. The pain reached a point where no drugs could control it. She invited everyone to her own wake. She had an incredibly wonderful party. We all got to say those benevolent things we usually reserve for someone's epitaph, but in this case, she got to hear them while she was alive.

That night, she took an overdose and passed away peacefully, avoiding about a month of intractable pain.

Is suicide wrong? Sure... but in this case, which is NOT a typical hospice case, who knows?

[MindBender26]

>>>> If you're talking about starvation/dehydration (as done to Terri Shiavo)

Anyone who thinks this is what Hospice care is like should go have a good talk with minister their local Hospice, and learn the facts.

BTW, ministerial care is an active part of Hospice care.

[MindBender26]

>>>> If you're talking about starvation/dehydration (as done to Terri Shiavo)

Anyone who thinks this is what Hospice care is like should go have a good talk with minister at their local Hospice, and learn the facts.

BTW, ministerial care is an active part of Hospice care.

[Nowhere Man]

I think a human being in the horrible pain of terminal bone cancer should get to decide.

A few years ago, a brilliant surgeon I knew was diagnosed with such a cancer. The pain reached a point where no drugs could control it. She invited everyone to her own wake. She had an incredibly wonderful party. We all got to say those benevolent things we usually reserve for someone's epitaph, but in this case, she got to hear them while she was alive.

That night, she took an overdose and passed away peacefully, avoiding about a month of intractable pain.

Is suicide wrong? Sure... but in this case, which is NOT a typical hospice case, who knows?

Well, my grandmother, she was a "fire and brimstone" type always told me that committing suicide is a ticket to Hell. Myself, I really don't believe that but I do believe that it does mess up your karma that will have effects in the Afterlife. Still your situation is a bit different, although I do believe in stopping suicides if one knows about it, it is like comparing Aunt Bessie taking her 1964 Lincoln and driving it into the river vs. a doctor or healthcare worker assisting and even promoting euthanasia.

[MindBender26]

In the case of Dr. Donna, would you have stopped her?

[Nowhere Man]

In the case of Dr. Donna, would you have stopped her?

Well, if I had known, yes. I'd call the cops.

[MindBender26]

We all knew, and accepted her decision.

[8mmMauser]

Pinged from Terri Dailies

8mm

[cubreporter]

I agree with that. If you can have the proper care and have Hospice come to your home to administer...it is much friendlier for the patient to be in his/her own environment with loving family and friends there with them.

[Tired of Taxes]

They lied to my mother and to my stepfather to get him in there, then everything changed. Ny mother is ill now and she has made me promise no hospice, because she believes “they killed my husband”.

My mother says the same about my father, and she's right. Doctors and hospital staff committed errors and then lied and twisted their stories to cover up. Then they tried pushing him into hospice. We refused. He pleaded with them to treat him. We finally found doctors who would, but then another doctor interrupted his treatment with a narcotic he wasn't supposed to receive, and while he was suffering from that, a nurse overheard him telling me to give up on him. Right away, the so-called "ethics committee" was called in and tried to stop treatment altogether. Meanwhile, the hospice doctor was always waiting in the wings. We did manage to hold the hospice doctor off until my father's final hours.